Names Of Me
by countryLexluv
Summary: Who is Sara Kal-El? Katie? Amber Lynn? Sarah? And even Lois? Well, it's all me. I am the Last daughter of Krypton, lawyer, firefigter, decorator, wife and mother. Talk about a lifetime of work. Here is my story. My life, my names.
1. Prologue

Prologue

**Author's Note: **This is an idea I had a few months ago that started out as a dream. The whole basis is "What if Krypton wasn't destroyed until after Kal-El was an adult and had a child of his own?" So, I started ploting out things, researching, and now I have several chapters. But I wasn't sure if I should put it up. And if I did, where would I put it. But the most important question for me was if anyone would read it.

I still have those doubts, but I'm putting up the prologue and first chapter. I would really appreciate any feedback and if you're interested, I could use a beta. If so, send me a PM and we'll figure out everything.

I'm putting it under the Comics Superman because they are the main background work I had to do.

* * *

**Prologue**

I finally have the life I always wanted. I'm married to a wonderful man, I have a job I absolutely love, and my family gets along. What more could a girl ask for?

Not much. That's why I'm writing this. Well, sort of. I mean, I've told everyone who I _can _tell everything. But they want me to write it down, for future generations.

Whatever.

I'll do it.

I don't even know where to start. I guess I should start with my name. I'll introduce myself.

Hi, I'm Lois Lane-Kent.

God, that was stupid.

But I am. Even if it's only been three years, two months, one week, and two days.

I've had a lot of names in my life. I mean, a lot. But I'll get to that.

I figured out where to start.

1


	2. Part One: First Day Of School

First Day Of School

**Part One Kathryn Grace Pearson**

**First Day Of School**

"Mommy, daddy, I don't _want_ to go to. I want to stay with you." A little girl of about six clings to her mother's legs.

Her father reaches down, untangles his daughter's hands, and lifts her up. "We know, sweetie, but you have to. And I bet that by the time we come to pick you up, you won't want to leave." Still holding the little girl with one arm, he grabs his wife's hand and the family walks onto the building. The sign reads 'Brighton Elementary.'

"No I won't. I miss you and mommy already." She tightens her hold on her father's neck and buries her head in his neck.

"Now, Katie, we've talked about this. We talked to your teacher the other day and you liked her, remember? Miss Denny?" the mother reminds her daughter.

Katie lifts her head a bit. "Miss Denny? She was pretty and nice. She gave me a pencil."

"Yes, do you still have it, Katie?" a new woman walks up to the family.

The little girl wiggles in her father's arms, trying to get down. Her father complies. "Yes, ma'am. Mommy said I had to bring it, that I would need it. Do I really need it?"

The teacher squats down so she is level with her new student. "You will. We're going to learn to write the alphabet, and then your name. Do you want to learn to write?" The girl vigorously nods her head. "Well then, if you'll say bye to your mommy and daddy, we'll go to my classroom, meet some new children, and then, we'll sharpen your pencil and learn to write."

"Bye mommy! Bye daddy! I'll see you later." The girl kisses her parents and her and her new teacher walk down the hall. The parents, who had been smiling, look at each other with the same expression on their face: worry.

* * *

One of my earliest memories is of the first day of school. I was six, going into the first grade. Back then they didn't have kindergarten or pre-k. The only memories from before that day all kind of blur together. My mom in the kitchen, my dad outside doing chores, and me playing.

I was three, at the most, when my parents adopted me. They were never really sure of exactly how old I was. But I can hardly blame them, after the way they found me.

Mom told me the story many times. Dad just agreed with everything mom said.

"I remember it like it was yesterday, Katie. Your father and I had just been turned down, for the second time, at the adoption agency. I was so heartbroken. I wanted to be a mother so badly, but I wasn't able to have one, the doctors never could figure out why, could they, Hiram?"

"No, they couldn't, Ruth."

"Anyway, we were on our way home to the farm, when all of a sudden, this meteor fell out of the sky. It landed in the field next to our house, didn't it Hiram?"

"Yes, it did Ruth."

"Well, your father spurred the horse on, and when we reached the field, we got down and stared. Your father and I were wary at first because there was no crater, just what looked like a… well, we didn't know what it looked like, but we both knew that if something falls out of the sky, it should make some kind of crater. But this didn't, did it Hiram?"

"No, it didn't Ruth."

"At any rate, your father and I just stood there, stunned, because the thing in our field opened up. Just slowly opened. And when it was open all the way, we couldn't see anything, at first. Then my curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to it. Your father tried to stop me, saying that it would be too hot, but I just did not listen. Well, what I saw in this thing that fell out of the sky changed my life. Asleep in the bottom, wrapped in the softest looking blanket was a beautiful little girl. She looked to be about three, but her hair was so long it curled around her slender body. It was the most beautiful shade of black, full of luster and shine, wasn't it Hiram?"

"Yes, it was Ruth."

"I knew right then that this precious little girl was going to mine. I knelt down, picked her up, and carried her into our house. When I got inside, you opened your eyes and I saw the most brilliant shade of blue. You looked up at me and smiled. It was like you knew I was going to be your mother, because you went right back to sleep and put your little arms around my neck. I told your father to figure out where to hide what I thought could only be a spaceship. Somewhere no one could ever find it. No one ever has found it, have they, Hiram?"

"No, they haven't Ruth."

"So we hid it and worked on the story we would have to tell to explain you, because we both knew you were ours, and we didn't want anyone to take you away from us. We came up with that you were the child of a cousin who couldn't take care of you. We went into town the next day to get everything we needed to take care of you. We came up with a name that we both liked: Kathryn Grace. We decided that the cousin should be a distant relative of your father's so that you could have our last name of Pearson."

Yes, you read right. My parents found me in a spaceship. And that they had a horse instead of a car. My 'birthday' is July 22, 1923. My parents found me April 10, 1926.

3

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**A/N: **Well there are the first two pieces. I hope you like the concept. Now, for some reviews that tell me you can't wait for the next chapter **First Sleep-Over**. crosses fingers


	3. First SleepOver

**A/N:** Well, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**First Sleep-Over**

"Mom, thank you so much for talking to daddy about letting me have this sleep-over," a seven year old Katie says.

Her mother looks down at her and smiles. "Daddy didn't really need that much persuasion; he's a push-over when it comes to you. He just worries about you." Ruth continues mixing the bowl of batter, adding another egg. "You just go make sure your room is picked up."

Katie walks out of the kitchen, but then turns around. "Mom, what does daddy have to worry about? There's only going to be Maddie and Jean over. We've been best friends since the very first day of school."

"I know, sweetie. You're just so special; mommy and I never want to lose you."

Hiram says, closing the door to the kitchen. He picks his daughter up and hugs her close.

Katie giggles. "But daddy, why would you ever lose me? I don't get sick or hurt like you and mom."

He hugs his daughter tighter and his wife comes up to hug her family. "We know, baby."

The three hold the hug a few minutes longer before Hiram sets Katie down. "We do know, but remember, you can't tell anybody. Not even Maddie and Jean."

"I know, you tell me that all the time." Katie rolls her eyes and her parents just laugh.

Just the, a knock is heard from the front door. Katie runs to answer it and sees her two best friends standing there. They all scream "Hey!" at the same time. The man standing behind them wince at the sound.

"I hope you girls can behave for Mr. and Mrs. Pearson. Now I have to go, or I'll be late." He kisses his daughter Maddie, nods to Hiram and walks out the door.

* * *

That first sleep-over was fun. Mom and Dad worried for no reason. Well they had some reason.

But nothing happened.

Maddie, Jean, and I played outside, and then we ate. We had chocolate cake, which back then was a luxury, played a few indoor games, and then stayed up long after we were told to go to bed. You know normal sleep-over stuff. Sleep-overs haven't changed much since 1930.

I even went on to have several more sleep-overs and eventually, I was able to go to a couple.

I'd always known that mom and dad adopted me and that I was special, but not what made me special.

I was just getting faster than a seven year old should, but not much. You had to be looking real close, and even then, I was really careful. When I was five, I lifted my bed up, but only for a second, but it felt to me like a book bag would be to a normal person.

And I had never been sick. Not even the sniffles.

When I was six, I fell off the top of the carriage and only had a small bruise on my side where I landed. Mom thought I broke something and yelled at me to stay on the ground. After that, no matter what I did, nothing more than a bruise was left to show that anything happened.

My parents knew that the way they found me had something to do with it, but they held off telling me that particular story until I was a little older.

Now, I realize what it took to tell me that story.

2

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**A/N2:** I had an anonomous review and wanted to answer it, but I didn't wan't to so it at the begining. Right now, it seems like a "What if Superman were a girl?", but later, you'll see why it's not really. I think it's in chapter seven. And you're right about the gender roles and all of that; it was all part of the fairly extensive research I did for this story. But thank you for the positive review. This whole idea is completely new to me and I really wasn't sure if it would be recieved well or not. Your words have actually helped me to put this chapter up sooner than I had planed.

Coming up:** First Power**.


	4. First Power

First Power

**First Power**

Nine year old Katie runs into the kitchen, sobbing. Ruth, standing in front of the stove, turns around to catch her daughter. "Honey, what's the matter, did you fall again?" The little girl, whose head was buried in her mother's dress, shakes her head. "Well, what is it, baby?"

"I'm s-sc-cared, m-mommy!" She takes her face out of Ruth's dress, but cover's her eyes with her hands.

"Why are you scared honey, and why are you covering your eyes? Did you get something in them?" Ruth kneels down and tries to uncover her daughter's eyes, but Katie screams, "Nooooo!" and holds her hands tighter.

Hiram runs into the kitchen from the back door, asking, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Ruth looks up at him, shaking her head, "I don't know what's wrong, Hiram, sh-she ran in here, grabbed my legs, sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was scared. I asked what scared her, she just covered her eyes. I tried to take her hands away, that's when she screamed. Oh, Hiram, I don't know what to do."

Hiram kneels next to his wife and daughter, and takes Katie into his arms. "Katie, sweetie, what's the matter?" Katie shakes her head and cries harder. "We won't be able to help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."

"Daddy, I-I-I saw a-a-a-a m-m-m-mon-monster wh-where mommy was at in th-the ki-ki-kitchen." Katie bawls.

"What do you mean by a monster, sweetie?" Ruth asked.

"It was s-st-standing where you sh-should have been, mommy. I was just playing and the floor d-d-d-dis-disap-p-peared and I s-saw the kitchen and the m-monster." Katie continued, sobbing each word.

Her parents pull her close and whisper in her ear, "Its going to be alright."

* * *

The first time my x-ray vision showed up, I was so scared. I was in my room playing, minding my own business, when all of the sudden, the walls and my floor just disappeared.

I saw what looked like the kitchen, but standing at the sink, instead of my mom, was this… thing. I now know that what I saw _was_ my mom, just her muscles and other… innards. The thing that scared me the most, though, was the fact that I could see her heart beat. I had no clue what was going on.

After mom and dad calmed me down, dad carried me out to the farthest field on our property. He had to carry me because I refused to open my eyes because every time I tried to open them, I saw things I shouldn't be able to see.

Once we were out in the middle of nowhere, dad told me to open my eyes. After a few minutes of fighting, he got them open. At first, it was okay, because all I saw was… well, nothing. Then I made the mistake of looking at my dad. This time I saw my dad's skeleton.

I screamed.

And covered my eyes again.

It took daddy thirty more minutes to get me to stop crying.

When he had me calmed down again, he asked me to describe what I saw. So I told him what I saw when I looked through the floor.

He could have laughed, and I found out later that he wanted to, but he knew that laughing was not going to help me. Dad told me that what I saw was mom's muscles and that it was her heart I saw beating.

After he explained everything, dad told me he was going to help me. He told me to picture his face in my head.

"Now, Katie, I want you to concentrate. I need you to see my face in your head. Remember what color my hair is, the color of my eyes. Every little detail you can remember. Do you have it? Now when you do, I want you to open your eyes. Got it? Good."

I opened my eyes.

I saw my daddy smiling at me.

For a minute.

Then I got so excited that I saw bones again.

I immediately closed my eyes again. Dad talked me through it again.

It took a couple of days for me to be able to see properly, but fortunately this happened during the summer, and I told my friends I was sick.

After this incident, my parents decided to tell me the real story of how they found me.

I was asking questions about why I was so different. Why could I lift daddy's plow with one hand, but he had to struggle to hook it up to Lilly? Why did I not get burnt on the stove when I accidentally ran into it, but mommy had to use rags just to hold the skillet? I was even able to outrun Lilly. And now I could see through everything, all I had to do was concentrate.

Two weeks after I was able to use my x-ray vision whenever I wanted, mom and dad decided to sit me down to tell me the story.

After they told me, I ran to room and refused to talk to them for the whole night.

The next morning, I realized that I was glad that they were the ones to find me.

So I apologized. Dad offered to show me the ship. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. To my nine-year-old mind.


	5. Second Power

Second Power

**Second Power**

"Hiram, what if someone finds out about our little girl? I couldn't stand it if someone tried to take our Katie from us."

Katie, now twelve, hears her mother say. She looks up, trying to find her. When she couldn't see Ruth in the immediate area, she used her x-ray vision. Her parents were outside, next to the barn. Katie could barely see them, so how on earth could she hear them?

"Maybe I'm just imagining it," she says out loud. Katie continues reading her school book.

A few minutes later, all sorts of noises invade Katie's hearing. She screeches and covers her ears. All that does though is make everything sound like it's under water, and louder.

She starts to run to her parents for help, but reconsiders. _Maybe this hearing is like my x-ray vision, I have to practice._ She runs out of the house to the same field her father took her to three years ago.

"I need to…" she starts to say out loud, but her voice is so loud she whimpers in pain.

Ruth walks into the living room but finds her daughter is not there. "Katie! Where are you? It's almost time for dinner."

Katie can hear every breath, heart beat, and other bodily function that her mother's body is making. It gives her an idea.

She uses her x-ray vision on her mother until she can see her heart. Katie then focuses her new 'super' hearing on the sound she knows a heart makes. With both 'powers', Katie concentrates until the only sound she can hear is in perfect time with the slow, steady pulses of her mother's heart.

Katie looks up and smiles. She races back to her house to meet her mother and share the news.

* * *

It took me thirty minutes to control my enhanced hearing. I'm not saying it was perfect, because it wasn't. Far from it; it took me a few months to stop it from coming in spasms, I guess you'd call it, but all I had to do was concentrate on one sound, and it worked better when the sound had a visual to go with.

Mom and dad almost didn't believe me at first, but all I had to do was remind them that they had a daughter from space and a few demonstrations to convince them. To 'prove' I had super hearing was to tell my dad what he said. From the barn. While whispering.

They were proud that I figured out how to use it all on my own.

It just took them a while to remember the fact that their daughter had good hearing. I heard things while it was still new that no child should hear. I will not go into details.

In the three years between x-ray vision and enhanced hearing, I was getting steadily stronger and faster.

I could now pick up almost anything around the house or farm. When mom lost something, I could just pick up the furniture. I never even broke a sweat, or lost my breath.

One time, I was on the way home from Jean's house, when a car passed me. It was 1934, so not many people had cars back then. I had only seen one or two. Anyway, I stopped walking and let it pass me. When I could barely see it, I started running. Really running. I had the good judgment to go into the corn a few feet, so that no one could see me, and within a couple of seconds, I had passed the car. It was exhilarating, running that fast.

After that, I ran around the farm and its surrounding fields everyday. I felt so free. Only one thing has ever surpassed that feeling of freedom, but that is farther into the story, and you wouldn't want me to ruin the story, now would you?


	6. Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice

**Fire and Ice**

"No, mom, I want to go to Jean's! I always have to stay and do chores, like you and dad, when we both know I can do them all by _MYSELF_ and have them done in ten minutes!" thirteen-year-old Katie yells at her mother.

Hiram, coming in at the last word, says, "Yes, we _all _know that, but what if someone were to come by, huh? What would you tell them? Because you know you can't tell the truth, you would be taken away from your mom and me. Do you want that?"

"Maybe I would. How do you know what people would do to me? I only have your _word_ that _scientists _would dissect me like a frog. And even if they _wanted _to, they couldn't because they wouldn't be able to cut me open. I can't even remember the last time I scraped my elbow, much less got cut." Katie stomps out of the door and slams it.

The force splinters it.

Ruth tries to rush out after her little girl, but her husband stops her. "Leave her be. She needs to cool down."

After a few minutes, Katie screams. Her parents rush out, only to see their daughter curled on the ground and the side of the barn on fire. Ruth runs to her daughter, but Katie shakes her off. Hiram runs to the pump and starts to fill the bucket next to it, but when he tries to get close enough to the barn, Katie gets up, and with her eyes squeezed shut, charges to stand in front of her father. "Move Katie!"

"No, daddy, you could get hurt. I'll figure out a way to put it out," but no sooner are those words out of her mouth that she starts to fight for breath. After what seems like years to Ruth, but in reality is only seconds, Katie's breath becomes steady and deep. A few of those deep breaths, Katie breaths out. Instead of a normal exhalation, though, is an icy wind. Ruth and Hiram, from _behind _their daughter, can feel the chill.

Katie falls to her knees, but, in front of her, the fire is out.

Katie's parents huddle around their daughter, all three staring at the side of the barn, at the scorch marks that make lines.

* * *

The first time I found out I could fires with my eyes, I was beyond angry at my parents. I just wanted to hang out with my friends, like everyone else, but instead, I had to work. I couldn't even use my speed because they were afraid someone would see me. No one ever even came to the farm unless they told me or my parents they were coming while we were in town. I mean, we lived six miles outside of town, and our closest neighbor was almost three miles away.

After I broke the door on the way out, all I could think about was how unfair they were being. I remember staring at the barn, thinking about my rage, when behind my eyes started burning. I blinked a few times, and then, WHOOM! The barn had fire on it.

I don't even remember screaming. I closed my eyes as hard as I could, and when I felt my mom, I wanted her to get away from me, thinking I would hurt her if she came to near.

Then I heard what my dad was doing. I had to stop him. I knew I wouldn't get hurt, because the last winter, I fell on to the fire and was perfectly fine.

I was so worried about my parents getting hurt, that I didn't even realize I was struggling to breath. I concentrated on something I didn't even know I could do, and after a couple of breaths, I knew almost instinctively what to do.

I blew out. I could feel that it was cold air as it left my lungs, but it didn't make me cold. I blew until the fire was out.

I had to explain what happened to mom and dad.

I was scared that they would be terrified of me, but they weren't. They took my new powers in their usual calm patience.

Since the heat vision was the most dangerous, dad made scarecrows for me to practice on in my field. It took a few days, several scarecrows, and a few bowls of popcorn, but I was able to control the… mechanism in my head that turned it on and off. I could even make a pin-point hole in the rags that made up the body of the scarecrows.

I always had fun lighting the candles at night.

I can't even begin to explain what I do when I use my breath, but it was easy to learn to control.

We never needed the ice truck to come by anymore, although we _did_ to keep up appearances, and we never bought as much as we used to.

It was that winter that I realized I didn't feel the temperature anymore. I mean, I knew it was cold, but it didn't make me uncomfortable.

This was a good thing, considering I had to wear skirts and dresses to school.

I hadn't even told my mom that I didn't really need my sweaters and jackets when it was cold anymore before summer came.

It was a few days before my fourteenth birthday that my mom grasped the fact that I didn't sweat in the hot, ninety-plus degree weather.

To this day, when everyone around me is sweating, I have to use water to pretend I am to, so no one will comprehend that something is in actuality different.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm putting these three chapters up now. I know I said they'd be up months ago, but I felt the need to tweek them some. Oh, and I changed the summary, I think it a little better, maybe not so confusing. And I changed the category. I was getting nothing from the previoius one. I wasn't sure what to put it in to begin with, since technically it won't have much to do with any media of Superman, although the character will be talked about as just that: a character. I hope this is recieved a little better and and maybe even, quite possibly garner some reviews. Even if it's to tell me you hate it.


	7. True Freedom

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything, execpt for Katie. And her parents. And my plot. But that's it.

* * *

**True Freedom**

Fourteen-year-old Katie is running through her family's fields. The wind from her speed sends her long black hair streaming behind her.

Her joy with running can be heard in her laughter.

It only takes two minutes to go from one end of the property to the other and back again.

Katie zigzags through the corn and fallow fields, her feet seemingly only touching the ground every third, fourth, fifth step.

Now she's jumping. She goes up, up three feet into the air before coming back down.

Every time she jumps, Katie goes a little higher into the air, a little father between her feet touching the ground.

Before she knows it, she is staying in the air for almost a whole field, ten feet in the air.

Katie lands on the top of a silo and stops. With her ever-increasing enhanced vision, she can see the house with the barn next to it.

She backs up to the edge farthest from the house, and takes a running jump. She's now soaring in the air. It feels like she is defying gravity. Her left foot touches the top of the roof of her home and she bounces onto the top of the barn and crashes through it. As Katie prepares to crash-land, she crosses her arm and covers her head.

But instead of feeling the floor of the barn floor, Katie feels nothing.

Slowly she pulls her hands away from her face and opens her eyes.

And stares at the floor, barely a foot below her.

­­­­­­­­­________________________________________________________________

Before That Day, I loved to run. I had just started experimenting with jumping while running. It was maybe a month before That Day that I first learned what it felt like to hang in the air. I was running and my feet were just barely touching the ground.

So I jumped. High.

It felt like I belonged up in the sky.

But I couldn't figure out how to stay.

I mean, not that I _knew_ I would be able to. Stay in the air, I mean.

And it wasn't that I felt _totally _out of place. I had my friends, like Maddie and Jean, and I was fairly popular with the kids whose parents let them continue school after eighth grade. Although I _was_ the only 'farm' kid who was still in school. But that was because I _loved_ learning. I couldn't get enough of school.

And I read _everything_ in sight. I absorbed it.

But getting back on track, with nothing between me and the ground but a few feet of air was… indescribable.

And after That Day, I jumped and jumped until I did it again. Hovering in the air above the ground.

A month later, I woke up two feet above my bed. I remember the dream I was having just before I woke up because I had had the same one every night since I first jumped up.

I dreamt I was flying above the clouds, under the bright, friendly sun. Then I would 'lie' on my back and soak up the sunlight. I felt at peace.

When I woke up enough to comprehend that I was floating, I fell onto my bed and broke it.

That afternoon, after school, I attempted to float up instead of a running jump.

Two hours and many, _many_ falls later, I was in the air.

Even before I had total control of my movements (it took several weeks to just 'maneuver' left or right, much less go very high), was exhilarating.

It was true, total, and complete freedom.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so I used the scene from SR. I thought it was an awsome scene, and honestly, I couldn't think of a better way to introduce the power of flight. All of this is background. Sooner or later will come some action, but not yet.


	8. A New Hero

A New Hero

**A New Hero**

"Johnny, have you read this comic with the new superhero in it yet?" fifteen-year-old Katie asks her friend Jean's older brother.

"Oh course, Katie, I don't lend them to you until I finish reading them. I was wondering what you would think of that new guy. I think he seems kinda out there. I mean an alien who looks _exactly _like us? Seems… a little too…" John wiggles his fingers, "woo-woo for me."

Katie looks at her friend. "So you don't believe that there is life out there besides us here on earth? I think it's too arrogant of us. I mean we are this tiny little planet in a _huge_ universe. We don't even know how big it is. There is almost certainly some other planet that has to have some sort of life on it, and if we believe that, then the chances are that life could have evolved on a similar track as we have on Earth." John tries to make a retort, but Katie cuts him off. "Besides, I think the new superhero is kind of neat. Although the name is… well, it's not exactly humble." Katie holds up the comic in question.

John reaches for the book. "Yeah, I agree with you on the name, but his super powers are awesome." He flips through the book until he finds the story with the new hero. "Could you imagine having any of them?"

His sister, Jean, walks onto the porch carrying a tray of drinks, saving her from having to answer. "Imagine having what, Johnny?" She sits down on the step above Katie.

"The super powers this new hero has." John answers, taking a sip from his cup.

Jean sips from her cup, and then asks, "What kind of powers does he have?"

John turns each page, skimming them. "Well, first of all, he can jump high and far, see through things, shot fire from his eyes, let's see… some sort of ice breath, and he's really strong, fast, and invulnerable. I think that's all, but maybe there will be more in the next issue."

Jean whistles, looks at Katie and asks, "So what's his name?"

________________________________________________________________

The day that John lent me that issue of 'Action Comics' changed my life.

Here was a character that could do _everything_ I could do, who landed here on earth in a spaceship, and was adopted by the kind, childless couple who found him.

Well, I could fly, but still.

For a while, I was of two minds. One was that I hoped he never made another appearance because it was just too creepy, while the other was that he got his own comic book so I could see how the people who wrote him would use his powers.

***

John was Jean's older brother. Older by like a year. I had a huge crush on him for the longest time. And he had one on me too, but I didn't know that until later.

It was that crush that got me into comic books. John loved them, so in an effort to have more in common with, I asked if I could borrow a couple to read.

I was instantly hooked.

I loved how people with different powers and abilities helped people and saved the world.

And I was right about them bringing John and I closer.

Because mom and dad rarely ever had extra money; and when they did, it went to important things, like cloth and extra food, which you could never have enough of; I had to go to John for my 'fix'.

He was always getting the latest and greatest. John would get them, read them, pass them to me through Jean, and I would take them back to him when I came to hang out with Maddie and Jean during the weekend. It got to where Maddie and Jean would read them, also, just to know what John and I were talking about.

I honestly think that if I wasn't different, John and I would have gotten married because we 'courted'. I do know that he will forever be my first love.

***

The story behind the new comic was this hero. He was sent by his birth parents to Earth because their planet was going to implode. He was just a baby, and so when he made it to earth, he was taken in by an older couple who had never been able to have children of their own. His early childhood was like that of any normal child, but when he got a little older, he started getting these weird powers. When he grew up, he found out about his alien heritage and becomes this great hero.

But there's a catch.

He has a secret identity. He moves to the big city to take on his dream job: a reporter for the greatest newspaper in the country. And promptly falls in love. With a woman who instantly falls, both literally and figuratively, for his heroic alter-ego.

And madness ensues.

But who is this comic book superhero, you ask?

Well, if you have to ask, what are you doing reading this?

I mean seriously.

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**A/N:** Okay, there it is. My big plot twist. Well, the first one anyway. I told you it wasn't a "Superman was a girl" story. I will obviously explain in more detail later, but you have to wait a bit. Anyway, I hope you like and reviews are encouraged.


	9. Leaving Home

Leaving Home

**Leaving Home**

"Ma, I have to find out what those guys know and where they got their idea from. I mean, seriously. In the last two and a half years this," eighteen-year-old Katie holds up a comic book, "has become the most popular thing in the country. I don't want to leave you and dad, but this is something I need to know. Daddy, you understand, don't you?" she looks to her father.

Hiram heaves a heavy sigh and then looks to his wife. "Now, Ruth, I don't want her to leave anymore than you do, but Katie's right. The men who 'created' this character could have information about our daughter's… otherworldly origins." At his wife's soft sigh, Hiram turns back to his daughter. "Just always remember us, sweetie. You have made our life… interesting, to say the least." The small family shares a weak chuckle at that understatement.

Then Katie becomes conscious of the tone in her father's voice and _exactly_ what he said. "Daddy, you make it sound like I'm never going to come back. Because you have to know I will. It's not like I have to take a long, tedious train ride. I have flown completely around the world in a matter of minutes. Coming home to visit you will take seconds, no matter where I end up."

"I know, Katie, but once you get to the big city you might not be able to visit as often as you like. You have to…"

"Hide my powers. I know, dad and I will." Katie finishes her father's sentence.

"But, honey, what about your hearing. Even here on the farm, in the middle of nowhere, you can hear everything. A city is so loud, it might hurt you." Her mother tries.

"I know that, too. But I can do the same thing in the city that I did here. Find a sound and concentrate on it until it's all I hear. If I do that, then it wouldn't take long for me to… recalibrate for the rest of the sounds. It's not like it's a totally new power." Katie laughs, and holds up the comic again. "Besides, if _he_ can live in a big city, so can I." Her parents laugh at her joke.

"Katie, _he_ is a _character_. _You _are _real_." Ruth points out.

"I know, but he can do everything I can. That's why I'm leaving. To find the men who created a character that… _mirrors_… my life so closely. I _need _to do this. For me. I love you two so much; I couldn't ask for better parents, but…" she shrugs, "I need to know where I'm from, what I am."

Ruth and Hiram nod and hug their little girl, all packed and ready to go off into the wide world.

________________________________________________________________

Leaving home was the hardest thing I had ever done in my entire life up to that point. Even now, it's up there on the list. Top five, at least. I was going into the unknown, and while I tried to put a brave face to my parents, I was terrified.

But, like I told them, I had to do it.

I had to find the creators of the character who was so like me.

***

I arrived in the dead of night. I didn't want to take the chance of someone seeing me. The first thing I noticed was that you couldn't see the stars. There were lights everywhere. There were so many that I was still worried about landing that I landed in an ally behind a dumpster.

The second was the noise. It was overwhelming. For the first thirty minutes I just sat down where I landed and cried. It was painful.

At first.

Then I did what I told mom I would do. The sound I concentrated on was this drip of water right next to me. I saw it when I stopped crying. I watched it drip until I could see the rhythm and then I listened. I pushed all of the other sounds away until all I could hear was the drip from the source and the plop as each drop hit the ground. It was so soothing that I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, just a few hours later, all I could hear was… well, not silence, but what I figured every other person could hear. I mean everything was still there, but it was way in the background.

***

When I left, mom and dad gave me some money. I didn't know it, but since I found out I could fly, they had been saving a little bit along. They didn't want to really admit it, but they knew that I would leave one day, and when that comic came out, they knew it would be sooner rather than later.

I took what little I had and looked for a place to stay. I knew I needed to find some sort of job to be able to stay, but I also knew it was going to be tough. It was 1941 and technically the country was still suffering from the Great Depression. And I was a woman. But at least I was a quick learner. I knew I could learn anything really quickly and with my speed I would be able to do things faster.

I almost wished I could have been a reporter.

At first I stayed in this little hotel that had only one room and I had to share a bathroom with my neighbor. My second day in the big city I bought a paper and looked through the classifieds. I circled every secretarial position I could find and called to see if I could get an interview. Out of twelve places I called, only five granted me an interview. If I had lied, I probably could have at least interviewed at every business, but I was honest with them, told them I had no experience.

I had five appointments over two days, but all I had were my Sunday best to wear. So I found a… well they're called consignment stores now, and found a looks-like-band-new skirt suit that only needed a little taking in to fit me. It was a good thing mom taught me how to sew, or I wouldn't have survived.

I did all five interviews and was called back for two of them. Both wanted to hire me, but I could only take one. It was amazing. I thought it would take me a while to find a job, but by the end of my first week, I had one. I worked five days a week, seven hours a day for twenty dollars a week. It wasn't much, but it was a living.

Three months on my own, I was feeling pretty good. I visited my parents twice a week, mainly for the food, so I wouldn't have to buy any for that night. I was staying in that same little hotel, which only charged four dollars a week. I made friends with the other secretaries and they were helping me find a place to live.

That was when I found them.

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**A/N:** Dun-dun-dah. Now, who an earth could I be talking about? As always, please review.


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